Facebook

‘Rocket Out Of London’ will now consolidate the group’s reputation as being one of the few great contemporary British rock bands. The album’s tracks explore psychotic musical obsession, celebrity stalking, hard liquor, lazy stoners, death by dreams, hatred of school, the crippling hollowness of pornography, late nights, madness and homeland security”.

There’s no denying the Damn Vandals their hard-hitting manner and artisanal charm, the iconic ‘The Dublin Castle‘ in London’s borough of Camden, really was the perfect venue for an album launch. That dimly lit backroom on Thursday April 10th was witness to a tasty performance from a band who quite honestly, should already be household names throughout the UK.

Along with being self-parodic and refreshingly spontaneous, Damn Vandals are ultimately believable in terms of updated Rock’N Roll archetypes. Their set is delivered with an unfaltering electric hum and given that front-man Jack Kansas has enough crowd-friendly arrogance to fill a luxury bath tub three times over, the relentless combination easily ignites a series of frantic riffs and jaw-dropping rhythms – The old cliche of a band sounding equally as good live than on record is shot to pieces, Damn Vandals wonderfully abuse this fact with their blistering show and set-list.

We have two copies of the mischievous and uninhibited ‘Rocket Out Of London’ CD to giveaway, there’s no questions to ponder or any smarmy requests, just drop us an email to say hi and I’ll get these two gems mailed out randomly sometime next week.

“A gutsy, spirit-lifting gem, their magnificently taut social commentary is a trenchant shakedown best served hot and alive”.

“Ummagma formed in 2003 after Alexx and Shauna met at a concert in Moscow. They blend their love of synthpop, alternative rock and electronica to create deliciously diverse, dreamy music, loaded with positivity. In 2012, they simultaneously released two debut LPs (‘Antigravity’ & ‘Ummagma’), followed by the ‘Split’ EP on Italy’s Som Non-Label in May 2013 and ‘Rotation/Live and Let Die’ on Emerald & Doreen Records in December. In 2013, Ummagma won the Alternative Eurovision hosted by Amazing Radio, representing Ukraine from 21 countries, picked up 2 awards at the Australian Independent Music Video Awards (including best international pop video), not to mention a full-page spread in Rolling Stone Russia. The duo has also regularly featured in The Scottish New Music Chart over the past two years”.

A little late with this mid-April release for Ummagma’s newest offering, although their music remains beautiful and timeless, we do like to be occasionally punctual with new releases, especially when the prevailing mood is lifted by such formidable standards. ‘The Road to Lees’ is an entrancing musical journey filled with emotional persistence of the highest order, the atmospheric and slightly electronic anticipation is etched with Ummagma’s brand of post-modern psychedelia – Another slice of finely tuned brilliance from one of our favorite International duos.

“On Wednesday, April 16th, Indie Dreampop Shoegazers ‘Ummagma’ debuted their video for ‘The Road to Lees’, created by videographer Jason Sheppard (Wales). This was the 13th official video for this Canadian-Ukrainian duo. Their visuals once again take us into dream territory, as they have established a tradition of doing, albeit with a twist this time. Beyond this video, 2014 looks to be an exciting year for Ummagma, with several albums in the works – Emerald & Doreen Recordings (Germany) will release the first of these on May 16. This ‘Lama Remixes’ LP features an international roster of electronic producers and artists, including legendary new wave electro pioneer Alexander Robotnick. The band is also pursuing other collaborations, remixes and releases through Ear to Ear Records (UK), involving Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), Mal Holmes (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), Sounds of Sputnik (Moscow), Lights That Change (UK), Graingerboy (UK), and Graham Bonnar (Swervedriver/Brian Jonestown Massacre)”.